Monday, August 23, 2010

Hot Process Soap -A First Attempt (post#3)

Back again! Here's the soap, ready for EOs.

I mixed in Vanilla Absolute and Lavender Essential Oil. The smell was almost intoxicating because of the warmth of the soap! Yummmmm! The whole house smells great. The tutorial warns that you must work quickly....the "drier" pieces don't want to stick to the "mass". You have to bang the molds on the counter to hopefully avoid any air pockets. I think it will be very rustic and primitive looking when it's out of the molds and cut.

Here's the "bubbly clean-up" photo. I'm just running water into the crock...looks like soap to me! I can't wait 'til tomorrow to unmold, cut and try this soap!

This Hot Process was really fun. I'll still keep making cold process...it's become so much "easier" after 8 years! This is, I think, a valuable process to learn. I believe it could be very beneficial to add a few HP varieties to my inventory. Such a nice, quick turnaround. I think next time I may add a bit more water to my recipe and see if the final step of putting it into the molds is easier.

I would love to hear comments/suggestions from any HPers (or CPers for that matter) out there!

I've done a few batches of HP, but the one time I made it in the crockpot, it volcanoed over and the crock didn't come out, so all I could do was watch! Such a mess... Anyway, now when I need a small, quick batch, I actually use the microwave! Works great for making soap balls to go in other soaps, but you really have to watch it, or it can go over the edge too!

I've only made one HP attempt. It was OK but I think I like CP better. I thought that HP was very much like rebatching and the result is similar looking. The rustic look is fine, but I tend to want tho whip it into smoothness :) Thank for sharing this, it's been fun keeping up.

Hi Becky, I do "oven hot process" and I love the result -- it looks like CP soap but is ready to use next day! Basically, instead of cooking it in a crokpot and scooping the semi-dry mess out, I pour a heavy traced CP mixture into silicon molds or wooden molds (this is why oven hot process gives you that smooth look of CP). I then put the molds into my oven and turn the heat on to 170F or so and leave it on for 3 hours. I then turn off the heat and leave the soap in there over night. Comes out great!

Wow! I like the sound of that oven hot process!Sounds like less work, yet still instand gratification! ; ) I'm all over that! I guess I would need silicon molds? Hmmm....I feel a bit of shopping coming on! Thanks so much for that info. I'll give that a try FOR SURE!

Christine,Maggie (Between Friends)talks of her oven technique above....is that similar to what you mean by HPCP? I'm just not familiar with all these terms...I feel like I've just discovered something, although it's been "out there" all along!